The Horrible, No Good Valentine's Day
by SWWoman
Summary: John had big plans for Valentine's Day, but you know what what they say about the best laid plans.


**Happy Valentine's day to all the Careesers! This fic is from a prompt by deverauxpoi : John and Joss have a horrible Valentine's day. This fic is unbeta'd, so sorry in advance for any errors you find.**

* * *

John Reese sat on a stool at the breakfast bar of the apartment he shared with Joss Carter as she examined his arm. "This was not how I planned on spending Valentine's Day," John grumbled as Joss tended to his wounds.

"Stop moving John, this cut is kinda deep," Joss sighed as she carefully drew the edges of a deep cut together and butterflied it carefully. "Are you sure you don't want me to call Sam? I really think she should look at it."

John shook his head, his face glum. "She has her own number to look after. It's just a flesh wound."

"Flesh wounds get infected John," Joss snapped. "Stop sulking like a damn baby."

John hung his head. "I was going to take you to dinner. And dancing."

Joss gave him a loving smile and caressed his cheek. "Oh John, that's so sweet. But I don't need fancy dinners or flowers or candy or any other romantic stuff; I just need _you_."

John continued on as if he had not heard her. "You deserve the best. But instead you get a five hour stakeout followed by a knife fight."

"OK admittedly, when I think Valentine's Day, knife fights aren't the first thing that comes to mind." Joss smiled and her eyes sparkled with laughter.

John just glared at her. "This is worst Valentine's Day ever."

* * *

_Several hours ago…_

John was delighted when he had gotten home before Joss. It was Valentine's Day and he had plans. He had always been a romantic at heart but he'd had very little reason to celebrate the most romantic of holidays before now. Now he was officially part of a couple with Joss Carter, the woman of his dreams, and he was going to do the day _right_. Joss was going to have the kind of Valentine's Day that women dreamed of, because she deserved no less.

John paused to stare at the dress Joss was going to wear to dinner and dancing tonight. She had hung it up on her closest door before she had gone to work that morning. "You can spend the day thinking of me in this dress tonight," she purred and then planted a kiss on him that had John swearing New York had been by a 7.0 earthquake.

John had indeed spent all day imagining her in that dress. It was a rich vibrant red color, his favorite. It had long sleeves and it was knee length, but it also a plunging neckline that would show off Joss's cleavage. It was made of clingy material would hug her curves and show off her incredible body, especially her butt. John loved her butt, somehow it managed to look good even in those frumpy pantsuits she wore to work. He had trouble focusing and anything else when her butt was in view.

He happily imagined himself walking into the restaurant with Joss on his arm, while everyone turned to look at the Goddess among them. They would eat the best food in NYC and then John would escort his Goddess to one of the most upscale dance clubs in the city where they would dance the night away. Then he would bring her home and make slow, gentle love to her. It would be a night that Joss would remember for the rest of her life.

John pulled out of his reverie and prepared for Joss to come home. He put the huge bouquet of roses in a vase on the dining room table so that it was the first thing Joss would see as she entered the apartment. He left a velvet box containing new sapphire earrings next to the flowers. The rich blue of the stones would be a perfect complement to the red dress. He took several minutes to fuss over the placement of the flowers and the open box with the earrings on the table so they presented a tableau worthy of a magazine cover. Stepping back John looked at his handiwork and nodded to himself in satisfaction. No detail would be overlooked on this special night.

"Hey John! Can you help me with this tie?" Taylor called down the hall.

Whistling cheerfully to himself, John strolled down the hall to the bathroom to help the teen with his Valentine's Day attire.

Just as John had finished teaching Taylor to tie a tie in the bathroom mirror, Joss came home. John and Taylor grinned at each other as they heard her squeal of delight at the flowers and the earrings all the way down the hall. Silently they shared a fist bump and then John walked out to the dining room.

Joss was standing next to the table with the velvet box open in one hand, while the other hand was clamped over her mouth. Her eyes were open wide and John could just see some tears starting to pool on her lower lids.

"Oh John, they're perfect!" she breathed as he slipped his arms around her.

He kissed her soundly. "Tonight is going to be perfect."

Then his phone rang.

His head whipped around towards the offending device on the counter. "No!" It actually came out a as whine worthy of a 13 year old.

Joss just giggled, like she had been expecting it. "Better answer that."

John closed his eyes and sighed, but he answered the phone like a good soldier. "Yes Finch?" his irritation came through loud and clear in his voice.

Finch was very apologetic, but that didn't take the sting out his words. "Hello, Mr. Reese. Sorry to bother you, I know you have plans tonight, but we have a new number."

"Finch, Shaw is on duty tonight. I traded her the next two times Leon needs rescue in exchange for the night off," John interrupted impatiently.

"I am aware of that; however she is already busy on another number. It appears that Valentine's is a very busy night for us."

"Of course it is," John grumbled.

"Look at the bright side, your deal with Miss Shaw now off and she has to save Leon next time," Finch said cheerfully.

John hung up on him.

He looked up to see Joss emerging from the bedroom wearing fleece lined leggings, boots and a turquoise sweater that hugged her curves. Well, it didn't hug her curves nearly as well as the red dress would have…

He glared at her. "What are you doing?"

Joss, completely unfazed by his grouchy mood, simply smiled and fluttered her eye lashes at him. "We have a number, so I'm dressed for a long cold stakeout."

"Joss **I** have a number, you might as well stay home and stay warm."

"Nope, not gonna happen. I'm spending Valentine's Day with you no matter what. Let's get going." She sashayed out the door, followed by her sulking ex-op.

Joss had to call Finch to get the specifics of the case back because John refused to call his boss back. She discovered their number was a hedge fund manager by the name of Martin Ellison. While Ellison was married, a quick hack to his phone records indicated he called a woman who was not his wife several times a day. The woman in question was accountant at his firm who was very young, very pretty and very single. According the tracking data on his phone he was currently at her house out in Queens. According to court records, he had just filed for divorce from his wife, who then turned around and promptly placed a help wanted ad on a web site that Finch described as "Assassins R Us."

They parked the car just down the street from the Ellison's paramour's house and waited for something happen. The irony of protecting a cheating husband on the day dedicated to the patron saint of lovers was not lost on John, but he was feeling somewhat humor-challenged at the moment since he would rather be elsewhere. He snuck a glance over at Joss but she seemed to be perfectly fine with the Valentine interruptus since she gave him a wink in return. He turned his attention back to the house, his face stony while he heard Joss chuckling softly next to him.

So instead of lingering over dinner in the best French bistro in New York City, followed by dancing in an upscale and exclusive club, they sat in a cold car, eating drive-through burgers and drinking mediocre coffee. Joss kept up a steady stream of cheerful conversation and after a while John stopped being such a grouch and began to banter back with her. John simply could not resist her. At least they were together.

"You want to see something?" Joss's voice had a lightly teasing tone.

John raised an eyebrow. "Sure."

Joss pulled back her hair and showed John her ears. She was wearing the sapphire earrings.

John had to smile. They looked every bit as good on her as he thought they would, even if she was wearing casual clothes instead of the red dress. Joss threaded her fingers through his and smiled back.

Despite the less than ideal circumstance, they kept up a compatible conversation over a variety of topics and they held hands for the entire time.

After several hours they noticed a shadowy figure creeping down the street. On high alert, they watched as it slipped into the yard of the tidy little house where Ellison and his mistress were spending their evening.

John turned to Joss and opened his mouth to say something, but she cut him off. "Don't you DARE tell me to wait in the car," she snapped, giving him the same look Taylor got when he broke curfew. John simply smirked at her. "I wouldn't dream of it," he said with exaggerated innocence.

They left the car and moved to intercept the assassin. John tackled the man just as he was about the break into the house, receiving a knife wound to his arm for his trouble. Not wanting to frighten the occupants of the house, John did not draw his weapon and engaged the hired killer in silent hand to hand combat. Joss waited for her opening, and then smashed the butt of her gun into the would-be assassin's head. He sank to the ground and lay still without a sound.

"He gave you quite a battle," Joss teased John as he swung the unconscious man up over his shoulders in a fireman's carry and toted him to the car.

John grunted as he dropped the assassin into the trunk of their car. "He's had some training; I'd say Armed Forces. Not your average street goon."

"At least Mrs. Ellison cared enough to send the very best," Joss chirped.

John rubbed his neck. "I wish she had sent a card, it would've been a lot lighter."

Once the would-be murderer was secured in the trunk of the car, a Joss took a picture of his face for identification purposes and sent it to Finch. A few minutes later, Finch informed them that the person currently sharing space with the spare tire was wanted for several other contract killings. John and Joss left the unconscious man tied to tree in a nearby park and phoned in an anonymous tip from John's handy untraceable phone. Then Joss insisted they return post-haste to their apartment so she could patch up her vigilante.

* * *

_Present time_

Joss kissed John's forehead. "I'm not upset at all John. I always thought Valentines was overrated anyway, even when I was married to Paul. I don't understand why you're so bent out shape."

John shifted uncomfortably on his stool. "I've never part of a couple before on Valentine's Day. I wanted to do it right." He looked over at her, his eyes sad. "I wanted to show you how much you mean to me."

Joss gently touched his cheek and stepped forward so she was standing between his thighs. "John, I got to spend five whole hours with you, just the two of us. Five hours of your undivided attention, with no trips to the hospital, do you have any idea how precious that is?"

John blinked at her. "How can you not be upset?"

She shook her head. "I knew what I signed up for when I feel in love with you. I knew we were going to have a lot of nights like tonight, and truthfully I would rather spend five hours on stakeout drinking nasty ass coffee with you than have a meal in a fancy restaurant with any other man. Two people are alive right now who would be dead otherwise and a cold-blooded killer is in jail. I'd say that was pretty darn good night." To prove her point she put her arms around his neck and thoroughly kissed him.

When Joss finally allowed him to come up for air he leaned his forehead against hers and looked down at her with such love in his eyes that Joss gasped. "I'm so lucky to have found you," he whispered.

Joss gave him a saucy grin. "Yes you are, John Reese and don't you forget it! Now I'm going to need something from you in return. "

John lifted an eyebrow. "Anything."

She pulled herself from his arms and started walking towards the bedroom. She looked back over her shoulder. "I'm going to take a nice hot bath and I'm going to need someone to wash my back for me." Then with a wink, she vanished into the master bedroom.

John scurried after her with huge grin on his face.

John caught up to Joss in the bathroom where she was running hot water into the large oval tub and lighting candles. She turned to him as he entered the room, blew out the match and gave him a cheeky wink. John felt himself start to grow hard as he watched the flickering candle light play on her golden skin; she glowed like some ethereal creature. He took her in his arms and kissed her like her was a dying man.

While the tub filled with water, John and Joss slowly undressed each other. Slowly, tenderly, with plenty of sweet kisses and sensual touches, they removed each other's clothes. John looked down in the face of the woman who had finally brought him happiness and he knew he was where he belonged.

"Get in the tub John."

John stepped into the tub and sank into the warm fragrant water. Joss slipped in after him, settling with her back against his chest. He took a wash cloth and lovingly began scrubbing her back as she nearly purred with contentment. His arms slid around her and he nuzzled her neck. His hands played with her nipples causing her to moan.

Joss turned and straddled John's thighs, kissing him passionately. She took his length in her hand and sank down, burying him with her welcoming body. John's eyes rolled back in his head and he groaned softly. His hands encircled her waist, lifted her up and then pulled her back down. They quickly established a rhythm, the waves in the tub lapping gently on the sides as they lost themselves in each other. Their lovemaking was not the hurried coupling of desperate lovers but their love had the slow burning intensity of a couple that shared a deep loving connection.

They reached their climax together , crying out each other's names and then Joss collapsed against John's chest, panting. He cradled her to him, cherishing the contact.

"Maybe this wasn't such a bad Valentine's after all," he murmured. And then he kissed her some more.


End file.
